This article was originally published in revivalistlifestyle.com
Have you ever looked into the pantry to find some sort of quick and delicious snack to have during the day, only to be left with nothing? Well look no further than the bag of raw oats for your answer.
Believe it or not, oatmeal as a dish holds a good list of benefits for people trying to bulk up and build muscle. For one, it’s easy to make and can be eaten really anywhere. Two, it can be made in so many different ways that the possibilities of this simple dish are endless. Want to make it with water? Milk? Fruits? Maybe you want a savory oatmeal.
Point being, it’s convenient, especially for those who exercise. However, what’s arguably more important than this is its nutritional benefits, and how they can help you when it comes to building muscles. In this article I talk about five of these, and while this doesn’t do this simple oat dish justice, it does give a brief look into its utility as a food.
#1: It’s Full of Dietary Fibers, Which is Good for Protein-Heavy Diets
One way that oatmeal consumption helps is its concentration of soluble and insoluble dietary fibers. This can help out indirectly with exercise, as fibers can help avoid cholesterol issues later on.
The fibers found in oatmeal contain beta glucan, which can help by lowering levels of LDL cholesterol while maintaining HDL cholesterol levels. This is a great thing. This can help with digestion, especially if you consume a protein-heavy diet, which anyone building muscle does.
Heavy protein intake, especially from meat, fish, and chicken, can lead to digestion issues, and so having the proper balance of fibers in your system helps tremendously. A cup of oats could contain anywhere up to 16 grams of protein.
#2: It’s a Quick Protein Source Before the Gym
While oatmeal most certainly is not the savior of your protein intake, it can prove very useful with time. Sometimes it’s hard to get in some quick protein throughout the day, and this is where oats come in.
Dry oatmeal has a very varied number of grams of protein per cup depending on who you talk to. However I tend to see an average amount of around 5-6 grams. It’s certainly nothing steroid-level intense, but it is good. If you eat a cup and a half of oatmeal that’s a quick and delicious 9-10 grams.
The protein that comes with oats is incomplete however and should often be combined with other natural and complete animal proteins due to the offset amino acid balance. In the case of oats, it’s missing the essential lysine, which is needed for a complete amino acid profile for muscle building. As such this can be supplemented with either meat-derived proteins or lentils.
However, as a quick source of easy protein, oatmeal is certainly a nice option.
#3: It’s Full of Iron
Another great benefit to eating oatmeal is its heavy iron content. You can get the necessary amount of daily iron intake (7 milligrams) from about 156 cups of oats, which yields 7.4 mg iron.
Where iron helps out is red blood cell production. 70% of the body’s iron is concentrated in hemoglobin red blood cells, which is very important when it comes to the transfer of Oxygen into the lungs, muscles, and tissues. As such, getting a good daily iron intake is important.
Alongside iron a cup of oatmeal also contains .9 mg of vitamin B3, which aids in energy conversion in the body.
#4: It’s Filled With Carbs, Making it a Quick Energy Source
Of course, one of the necessary things to have while exercising is energy. You need to feel awake and energetic enough to commit to a workout, which is what makes carbs so necessary to our diets. Oats are built up of complex carbs, meaning they’re a great energy source. The body slowly digests these carbohydrates, giving you energy as the day continues.
Furthermore, because it is a natural carbohydrate source, you won’t be getting any energy crashes with oats. The energy feels better and stronger, and the fat gain you get out of it is much lower than simple carbs. Simple carbs create excess fat gain because they convert into glucose too quickly. It’s not the same story for complex carbs however.
Furthermore, from an aesthetic perspective complex carbs make you look more full rather than flat, which is good. Because they convert slowly however many nutritionists recommend the consumer wait a good hour or two before exercising after oatmeal.
#5: It’s Low in Fats, Making it Easy to Digest
Finally, oatmeal is low in fats. When it coms to fats, you should be avoiding saturated fat and focusing on consuming more healthy fats. These include omega-3, which increases your HDL concentration, and vice-versa for LDL cholesterol.
It’s a good meal to eat before a workout for this reason, especially considering how easy it is to make and store. Oatmeal is low in saturated fats, only .9g of 5.3g of fat per cup being bad for you. The rest of the fats found in oatmeal are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which both can aid in reducing inflammation, which is great for workouts.
